If Only Until Morning

Unbeknownst to her or any of the guys, I asked Victoria, the Matches' merch head, and Dirty to watch Alison during our set and make sure she didn't slack on her duties; she'd been wandering off and hitting on essentially anyone. Except Dirty and people who did merch. Apparently, selling merchandise was beneath her, or whatever.

But I had to do it in secret because the guys would pretty much kill me for "plotting against Ali and being completely paranoid". They should have known me better. I don't trust anybody, especially not blonde bombshells who have penchants for skinny guys with great hair.

I should tell Bren and William to watch their backs.

So I made my way to the stages with Hayley, both of us joking around and complaining about my merch girl. Apparently Alison had a thing against redheads. And brunettes, according to Victoria. And Vicky-T. So... basically anything female and/or musical.

"We definitely need to have a girl's night," Hayley declared as we neared our destination. Our six boys were standing around backstage. It was funny: Penny Dreadful was basically a California version of Paramore, only younger and taller.

"I completely agree," I harmonised. "I'll inform my manager immediately."

We both laughed, drawing suspicious looks from the guys. "You're laughing," Jeremy pointed out.

"Uh, yeah?" Hayley said. "We're not allowed to laugh?"

"Generally two girls laughing together means trouble," Jesse informed her, tinkering with a guitar. "We know from experience." He shot me a look, which I combated with an innocent smile.

Paramore was up before us-- for once, we weren't going first thing in the morning-- so we hung out in the wings and watched. Watching included dancing, singing, and making faces at them onstage. At one point, Sean made Hayley laugh so hard Josh had to take over singing for a few bars.

"Penny Dreadful's up next!" she informed the crowd at the end of their set. "We'll be over there making faces at them." I laughed and high-fived them as they came offstage.

During our set, I made a point to look over at Paramore occasionally and grin cockily, completely unperturbed by their ridiculous attempts to throw us off. I did screw up on a section of "England and The Blamer's Guilt" when I saw Justin and Shawn in the front row dancing surrounded by teenage girls.

"You cheated," I stated once offstage, attempting to look pathetic even though I was still laughing. "Recruiting was not an option." All six of them-- Hayley, Jeremy, Josh, Zac, Justin, and Shawn-- gave us thumbs up. I stuck out my lower lip and for sympathy wrapped my arms around Matt, who was sweaty, but smelled pretty alright for it. He grinned and kissed my cheek.

"I can make it up to you," Justin promised, grinning. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Piggy-back ride to our booth?"

I eyed him dubiously. "I'm as tall as you; how ridiculous would that look? Plus you can't guarantee that you can carry me that whole way."

"I can," Shawn laughed, adjusting the white fedora on his head. "Now get your pale ass over here. You're getting drummer sweat all over you."

I wrinkled my nose and detached myself from Matt to leapt onto his back. "Onward, noble steed!" I cried, pointing grandly. I felt someone slap me on the butt as Shawn took off with Justin beside us. "Hey! You're supposed to slap the horse, not the rider!"

"Why would I want to slap a dude's ass?" Zac called after us.

Before I could retort, Shawn hopped, making me flail and clasp onto him. My remaining two companions laughed. "Well, hello there, pretty lady," Shawn greeted, flashing a grin back at me. "Fancy meeting you here."

I smiled and leaned my chin onto his shoulder. "You're a dork, Shawn."

"A sexy dork," he corrected, grin growing.

I laughed, brushing some of my hair back. "A sexy dork," I agreed. He bounced again and I clung to his back. "Stop doing that! My pants slip farther down every time you do!"

"Well, we'd better speed up then, hadn't we, Shawn?" Justin said, beaming.

"That we had, Justin," Shawn agreed. And then they both started sprinting, with Justin blazing a trail through the crowd, yelling, "Gangway! Coming through!"

When we finally slowed near the merch booths, I flicked Shawn's ear and slumped against him. As I was about to give them both a few choice words, I spotted Alison at the booth... talking to Ryan and leaning so far forwards, I was surprised she already hadn't fallen out of her top.

"Beast and the harlot at one o'clock," I muttered, leaning my forehead against Shawn's shoulder.

He chuckled. "Question: which one's which?"

"Good point," I laughed and slipped off to the ground. "The harlot's the one eying the beast and any passing male like she's going to jump him in a second," I explained wearily, giving him a one-armed hug. "The beast is the gentleman with whom I am displeased."

Shawn grinned affectionately. "Good luck, Pen." I nodded and watched him join the rest of his band in their booth before continuing to Penny Dreadful's with a resolute straight back. This is going to be fun, I thought sarcastically.

Alison spotted me before Ryan did, and I could tell because she smiled wider at him and, if possible, pronounced even further her cleavage. If he noticed this, I saw no sign, as a second later he turned around and gave me a half-smile. "Hey, Ange," he greeted casually.

"Hi, Penny," Ali droned when I was about to greet him in return.

My smile slipped a little. "Hi," I said shortly before turning my attention back to Ryan. "I've been looking for you. I need to ask you something."

"Okay," he replied, nodding. Whether he was just clueless or assumed that was code for 'come find a secluded place and have sex with me', I didn't know--or much care-- but easily enough, Ryan followed me around the back of the booth with Ali watching his every move and smiling evilly.

"What's wrong?" Ryan immediately asked. Well, that was easy. "You blew me off the other day, and I've barely seen you since. Are you mad at me for something?"

Okay, maybe not so easy.

"Not 'mad' as such," I countered calculatedly. "More... splenetic at the feckless indignity you contravened against my amour propre."

He crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side. "So... yes." My mouth twitched a smile, though I quickly smothered it. "How exactly did I upset you?"

"Your underhanded jettisoning and restitution for that inimical, wanton floozy."

"Why would I want to replace you? What inimical, wanton floozy?" Looking up at the sky, I laced my hands together behind my back and twisted back and forth. "What? Alison?" I glanced down to meet his brown eyes and looked back at the sky. "Rhi, you have to talk for me to understand."

But words are so bothersome, I complained to myself. "You ditched me to hang out with her," I said quietly, still squinting into the bright sky.

Ryan cracked a smile and untangled my arms to take my hands. "There's no one I would rather spend time with than you," he declared honestly. "Alison's a nice girl, but she's not you, Angie."

Then he leaned forward to kiss me, but I stepped back quickly, fury rising. "She's anything but nice, Ry!" I exclaimed, gesticulating with my hands. "She's a plague upon the whole tour! I have never met anyone so loathsome in my life!"

Ryan blinked at me, taken aback, before a wrinkle crossed his brow. "It's fine that you don't like her, but that's a little harsh, don't you think?" He shook his head. "No, it's more than that. It's ridiculous. You're being so..."

I crossed my arms stormily. "What, Ryan?" I prompted icily. "What am I being?"

He opened his mouth, but stopped and rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "I don't want to have a fight over something stupid," he muttered. I narrowed my eyes dangerously. So now my opinions were stupid? "Look, Rhi, you have to trust me on this one: just get to know her better. You're going to be living together for the next two months; it'll be hell if you guys don't get along."

I stared at him with an unchanging, hard expression. He wasn't on my side about this, either. True, he wasn't completely against me like the guys, but he wasn't remaining neutral like William. I had to convince someone.

Again Ryan moved to kiss me, and I let him this time, but stood absolutely still. He might as well have been kissing a statue. He frowned discouragingly and led me away from the booths to fraternise with a random conglomeration of people.

Arm candy. That is what I had been reduced to, and I would not stand for it. Standing there and looking pretty is for people with no talent or brains. So after five minutes of staring expressionlessly away from the group, I slipped my hand out of Ryan's.

"Where are you going?" he inquired in a low voice.

I blinked blankly and pointed. "That way," I responded, and walked away. I needed to be alone for a while and think things out.

Sadly, Alex Gaskarth had other plans.

"Hey there, sweet thing," he greeted, sliding up behind me and slipping an arm around my shoulder. "Anyone tell you how fantastic you look today?"

"Not now, Alex," I requested tiredly.

"Then that's a no?" he continued with a grin. "Well, allow me to be the first."

"I said, not now," I said more forcefully, sending him a strict look.

I jumped when Jack Barakat spoke from my other side. "Wouldn't it suck if the world ended right now? God wouldn't be very happy with you."

I blinked at him like he'd grown another head with equally strange hair. "Don't creep up on me like that. And what the hell are you talking about?"

Alex shrugged. "He does that," he informed me. "'Wouldn't it suck if' is Jack's favourite game slash way to start a conversation." I glanced back at Jack, who nodded with the biggestcutest smile I'd ever seen, and couldn't help laughing. Alex grinned and pulled me closer. "So let's get to know each other."

"Let's not," I countered, removing his arm but still walking with them. "I've seen more of you than I ever wanted to." At the memory, I shuddered.

"You know you liked it."

With a sigh, I stepped in front of the group, forcing both All Time Low-ians to stop. "I have a boyfriend," I stated slowly, making sure he understood. "Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah," Gaskarth said, like it was obvious, which it should have been. "But you're here. On tour. And he's... not." He slipped his hand around my waist. "He'd never know."

"You're incorrigible," I exclaimed, throwing his limb off and stalking away. The gall of him! To suggest that I would be anything less than completely faithful.

I twitched nervously when Jack caught up to me. "Wouldn't it suck if your boyfriend was actually on tour?" he mused.

I chuckled. "You have no idea," I replied.

"We should hang out," Jack said with a hopeful grin.

When I opened my mouth to decline, Alex appeared back in step with us. "C'mon, Pen," he encouraged, still smiling. "Spencer told me you're an ace at Guitar Hero. Bet you I could kick your ass."

Well, I supposed. The guy certainly knows how to get my competitive side up. "You're on, Gaskarth," I combated, smirking. "Prepare to have your dignity compromised."